best place for Spanish immersion learning in South/Central America

Hi there,

I am myself seeking Spanish language immersion, and have decided to head to Central America - flying into Mexico on 30/10/12, though will go straight to Guatemala. I was recommended by one friend of mine, who did both volunteering and Spanish school about 5-6 years ago, to try the following Spanish school and also the following volunteer option:

Mundo Spanish School - Spanish Classes in Guatemala
From Houses to Homes - Guatemala - this volunteer group, I checked, asks for 500$ donation, but then you can stay for as long as you want. It said that accommodation and food should additionally cost 12$ a day. Now the benefits are: you stay as long as you want, so you can stretch your budget, and also that your cash goes as salaries for local workers (that's what the website says). This means that the workers should be locals. Best is to check the websites.

Apparently Guatemala has quite a few Spanish schools around Antigua and lake Atitlan, which is where I am planning to go myself in the beginning of Nov 2012. Whether I go to the one above is debatable. I am also planning on doing some volunteering. Some Guatemalan schools have links to volunteering options, and some also include volunteering as part of their programme. Just Google Spanish schools.

I know this answer ain't great, but given the lack of responses to your question, I hope this is a good starting place.

I've known several people that went to Guatamala for language school. I dont know which school but I do know at least one of them was on an artist's budget so that implies its cheap!

Empanadas are the only thing worth eating in Chile. LOL. Most bland food of any country Ive visited!

Bolivia is a cheap country, and in general city living is reasonably civilised for such a poor country. Sucre and Cochabamba are at an altitude that gives them a lovely climate, and are otherwise pleasant towns. I think Cochabamba in particular has a lot of schools, though Sucre is the more interesting place of the two.

thanks for all of the advice! Plenty of places to look into so thanks for the references!

Hello,
I had the same question as you and decided to start with Costa Rica and then Colombia.

I spent 5 weeks at Intecultura Playa Samara and loved it. I lived in a family and it was great for learning. I got to surf, see turtles, horseback riding and enjoy the sun. The only negative point is that Costa Rica and Samara especially is very expensive. They have another school in Heredia that is equally good but it is in a city.

I am in Cartagena right now at Nueva Lengua starting tomorrow.

While in San Blas I met a group on a spanish travelling course. If I had heard about them before I would of probably joined the class. I think it is called Spanish at Locations, the lady's name is Ingrid Lommers, all the students in the group seemed to have a great time, they spend a month between classed and travelling through Panama or Costa Rica or both.

Pura Vida!